AuthorTopic: Minimum specification of small organ (Read 63820 times)

Absolutely! I, too, went on such a course, but a lot longer ago (c.1970), and I got the chance to play the Addington organs at various other times. I also played this one when it was at Cleveland Lodge. It certainly is a most versatile and beautiful instrument. The similar-sized (apart from its having inherited a full-length 32' Double Open Wood) at St. Sepulchre, Holborn, in the City of London is similarly adept at producing several quarts out of a pint pot (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N17580).

Having the Contra Oboe as the only reed has been tried elsewhere and has the advantage of providing a pedal reed by coupling as well as adding a special dimension to the manual possibilities. Lord Dunleath's organ at Ballywalter PC, as rebuilt by Walker (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D05475) is another example, as is Wells-Kennedy's at Drumbo PC, Ballylesson (ww.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D01451). Both were originally Conachers (the dominant builder in Ireland), the Ballywalter one being described as "strikingly gormless" (or some such term) by Lord Dunleath. Incidentally, this one retained a Dulciana on the Swell at the rebuild, but this was replacedfive years later with a Sesquialtera. Lord Dunleath said that no one missed the Dulciana but the Sesquialtera was immensely useful and would even stand in as an 8' chorus reed, which I found was indeed the case.

A lot of it is to do with the quality of the work - an organ voiced by Arthur Harrison would be as good as anything available at the time and better than most. Also, Harrison was influenced by George Dixon, who was clever at devising schemes which got the most out of what was available and avoided redundancy. Thus, the Harrison/Dixon team could produce a small organ which was complete and versatile, whereas others were content to provide a selection of mostly soft stops which the local cathedral organist would use most often to accompany a choral service, plus a big diapason to lead the hymns.

Father Willis's "Model" organs were similarly clever, and an influence on Dixon. The mobile "Stainer Organ" in St. Paul's Cathedral is the best known example (Mander added a Great Mixture) and is recorded as having been capable of leading a full congregation when the big organ was out of action as well as having been mistaken for its larger brother on many occasions.

There are other, similar jobs around the country. I can think, offhand, of Dennington and Groton in Suffolk, the Song School at St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Great Horkesley, Foxearth and Stapleford Tawney in Essex (these two a bit bigger), Wolferton in Norfolk.

Other builders were less imaginative at getting the most out of a small number of stops. Here's Binns at Stromness Parish Church, Orkney:

Small Bevingtons can be rewarding, especially if they run to a mixture, but at other times, especially later instruments, they can be deathly dull - like Little Horkesley, Essex (installed second-hand when the church was rebuilt after a direct hit from a land-mine in World War II):

And so on. Sometimes, these gormless-looking instruments sound rather good and much better than one would expect, like the Hope-Jones that used to be in St. Mary's RC Church, Croydon, where the only upperwork was a 4' Lieblich Flute in the Swell, although there were a lot of octave couplers (and a 16' Rohr Bourdon on the Great!).

Norman & Beard built dozens of small organs in East Anglia, which are generally pleasant and a cut above the rest, although maybe not over-exciting. They each seem to have a particular character.

Acoustics can make a difference, too, but some of those little Harrisons were in fairly dead buildings.

I was curious also as to whether the effectiveness of a small instrument is influenced by factors such as the scale of the pipes, wind pressure, or other such variables.

I have also noticed the description whereby a rank of pipes is said to be added "on a clamp", but have so far failed to find a description or picture on the web. Please could someone explain this to me?

A top-class builder would take pains to get the scaling, pressure and so on exactly suited to the situation, while others might use stock pipes and not put such skill into the voicing. It could make quite a difference to the result.

A clamp is an extension of the soundboard to allow another stop to be added. It can work well if properly done, although putting extra capacity on a soundboard not designed to take it might compromise the result.